LA PAZ, Bolivia -- President Evo Morales on Wednesday accused Barack Obama of lying by pledging to change America's historically heavy-handed relationship with Latin America and then halting $25 million in annual trade benefits for Bolivia. The U.S. on Tuesday said it is ending the import duty waivers because world's No. 3 cocaine-producing country is not doing enough to reduce "unconstrained" cultivation of coca. Morales said the move contradicts Obama's promise at the Summit of the Americas in April to be a peer rather than an overseer of countries in the region. "President Obama lied to Latin America when he told us in Trinidad and Tobago that there are not senior and junior partners," he told reporters.
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- President Evo Morales on Wednesday accused Barack Obama of lying by pledging to change America's historically heavy-handed relationship with Latin America and then halting $25 million in annual trade benefits for Bolivia.
The U.S. on Tuesday said it is ending the import duty waivers because world's No. 3 cocaine-producing country is not doing enough to reduce "unconstrained" cultivation of coca.
Morales said the move contradicts Obama's promise at the Summit of the Americas in April to be a peer rather than an overseer of countries in the region. "President Obama lied to Latin America when he told us in Trinidad and Tobago that there are not senior and junior partners," he told reporters.
The US army says it has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in south Afghanistan's Helmand province.The US military says about 4,000 marines as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, supported by Nato planes. Brig Gen Larry Nicholson said the operation was different from previous ones because of the "massive size of the force" and its speed. A Taliban spokesman said they would resist in various ways and that there would be no permanent US victory. Qari Yosuf Ahmadi added that "a large number" of Taliban were in the area. "I cannot accept the fact that 4,000 US troops have taken part in this operation," he said, quoted by the Afghan AIP news agency. "I consider it a part of a psychological war, but if 4,000 US troops really are taking part in the operation, they will not have any permanent victory."
The US army says it has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in south Afghanistan's Helmand province.
The US military says about 4,000 marines as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, supported by Nato planes.
Brig Gen Larry Nicholson said the operation was different from previous ones because of the "massive size of the force" and its speed.
A Taliban spokesman said they would resist in various ways and that there would be no permanent US victory.
Qari Yosuf Ahmadi added that "a large number" of Taliban were in the area.
"I cannot accept the fact that 4,000 US troops have taken part in this operation," he said, quoted by the Afghan AIP news agency.
"I consider it a part of a psychological war, but if 4,000 US troops really are taking part in the operation, they will not have any permanent victory."
Germany's military deployment in Afghanistan has split public opinion back home. SPIEGEL talks to former German Defense Minister Peter Struck and Jürgen Todenhöfer, a prominent critic of the war, about civilian victims of American bombing attacks, negotiations with the Taliban and the role of al-Qaida. SPIEGEL: Mr. Struck, is Germany safer today, after seven years of having the German army, the Bundeswehr, in Afghanistan? Struck: Of course. Under the Taliban regime, the threat of terrorism coming from Afghanistan was much greater for us in Europe and in Germany. We will still have to defend our security in the Hindu Kush region. This statement will continue to be true until Afghanistan no longer poses a threat in terms of terrorism.
Germany's military deployment in Afghanistan has split public opinion back home. SPIEGEL talks to former German Defense Minister Peter Struck and Jürgen Todenhöfer, a prominent critic of the war, about civilian victims of American bombing attacks, negotiations with the Taliban and the role of al-Qaida.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Struck, is Germany safer today, after seven years of having the German army, the Bundeswehr, in Afghanistan?
Struck: Of course. Under the Taliban regime, the threat of terrorism coming from Afghanistan was much greater for us in Europe and in Germany. We will still have to defend our security in the Hindu Kush region. This statement will continue to be true until Afghanistan no longer poses a threat in terms of terrorism.
It's a real blitzkrieg, the combined attack of massed United States marines, Afghan forces and NATO troops which has been launched against Taliban rebels in southern Afghanistan. It is also the first test of President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan. On Thursday, before dawn, 4000 US marines and hundreds of Afghan soldiers began an offensive in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. They were parachuted from 50 NATO aircraft south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah in the River Helmand valley. Afghan rebels at present control the area. British NATO troops have never been able to gain a real foothold here. It is also the centre of Afghanistan's large-scale opium poppy cultivation activities. The US is convinced Operation Khanjar (`strike of the sword') will prove a turning point in its fight against the rebels. D-Day Dutch General Mart de Kruif, commander of joint NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, agrees. In a speech to US marine commanders, he compared the offensive to D-Day. "Just as the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in June 1944 heralded victory over Nazi Germany, so the offensive in Helmand is designed to be a decisive watershed in the war against the Taliban."
It's a real blitzkrieg, the combined attack of massed United States marines, Afghan forces and NATO troops which has been launched against Taliban rebels in southern Afghanistan. It is also the first test of President Barack Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan.
On Thursday, before dawn, 4000 US marines and hundreds of Afghan soldiers began an offensive in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. They were parachuted from 50 NATO aircraft south of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah in the River Helmand valley.
Afghan rebels at present control the area. British NATO troops have never been able to gain a real foothold here. It is also the centre of Afghanistan's large-scale opium poppy cultivation activities. The US is convinced Operation Khanjar (`strike of the sword') will prove a turning point in its fight against the rebels.
D-Day Dutch General Mart de Kruif, commander of joint NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, agrees. In a speech to US marine commanders, he compared the offensive to D-Day.
"Just as the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in June 1944 heralded victory over Nazi Germany, so the offensive in Helmand is designed to be a decisive watershed in the war against the Taliban."
With the election of a successor to head the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei is preparing to leave the post he has held for more than 10 years. He faced many challenges, but he will be remembered mainly for one thing. Mohamed ElBaradei's message was clear: "We are not going to say that this is a material breach unless obviously we see a gross violation of the resolution," the Director General of the International Atom Energy Association (IAEA) said at the end of January 2003. He was responding to demands by the administration of US President George W. Bush to find the so called "smoking gun," i.e. proof that Iraq possessed or developed nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction. In the same statement, ElBaradei estimated that the IAEA needed four or five months to verify that Iraq did indeed not possess that weapons capability. Less than two months later the military invasion of Iraq began.
Mohamed ElBaradei's message was clear: "We are not going to say that this is a material breach unless obviously we see a gross violation of the resolution," the Director General of the International Atom Energy Association (IAEA) said at the end of January 2003. He was responding to demands by the administration of US President George W. Bush to find the so called "smoking gun," i.e. proof that Iraq possessed or developed nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction.
In the same statement, ElBaradei estimated that the IAEA needed four or five months to verify that Iraq did indeed not possess that weapons capability. Less than two months later the military invasion of Iraq began.
Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of Gaza Strip homes in attacks that amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International charged today, in the first in-depth human rights group report on the recent war in Gaza. Amnesty called on Israel to publicly pledge not to use artillery, white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons in densely populated areas. And it urged Gaza's militant Hamas rulers to stop rocket fire against Israeli civilians -- attacks it also described as war crimes. Amnesty -- which first accused Israel of war crimes shortly after the fighting ended on Jan. 18 -- said "disturbing questions" remain about why high-precision weapons like tank shells and air-delivered bombs and missiles "killed so many children and other civilians." The group deplored Israel's use of less-precise artillery shells and highly incendiary white phosphorous in built-up areas. It also accused Israeli forces of using Palestinians as "human shields" and frequently blocking civilians from receiving medical care and humanitarian aid.
Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of Gaza Strip homes in attacks that amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International charged today, in the first in-depth human rights group report on the recent war in Gaza.
Amnesty called on Israel to publicly pledge not to use artillery, white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons in densely populated areas. And it urged Gaza's militant Hamas rulers to stop rocket fire against Israeli civilians -- attacks it also described as war crimes.
Amnesty -- which first accused Israel of war crimes shortly after the fighting ended on Jan. 18 -- said "disturbing questions" remain about why high-precision weapons like tank shells and air-delivered bombs and missiles "killed so many children and other civilians."
The group deplored Israel's use of less-precise artillery shells and highly incendiary white phosphorous in built-up areas. It also accused Israeli forces of using Palestinians as "human shields" and frequently blocking civilians from receiving medical care and humanitarian aid.
The Organisation of American States (OAS) gave Honduras three days to restore Manuel Zelaya to the presidency or face expulsion from the region's major group, as Washington added to the pressure on coup leaders by formally suspending military contact. ose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the 34-member OAS, said: "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere," he said.The ultimatum issued by the OAS to the new government prompted the ousted leader to delay plans to return home on Thursday.
ose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the 34-member OAS, said: "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere," he said.
The ultimatum issued by the OAS to the new government prompted the ousted leader to delay plans to return home on Thursday.
Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda. Hussein, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the perceived threat from "fanatic" leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a "security agreement with the United States to protect [Iraq] from threats in the region." Former president George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq six years ago on the grounds that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a threat to international security. Administration officials at the time also strongly suggested Iraq had significant links to al-Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Hussein, who was often defiant and boastful during the interviews, at one point wistfully acknowledged that he should have permitted the United Nations to witness the destruction of Iraq's weapons stockpile after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Hussein, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the perceived threat from "fanatic" leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a "security agreement with the United States to protect [Iraq] from threats in the region."
Former president George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq six years ago on the grounds that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a threat to international security. Administration officials at the time also strongly suggested Iraq had significant links to al-Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Hussein, who was often defiant and boastful during the interviews, at one point wistfully acknowledged that he should have permitted the United Nations to witness the destruction of Iraq's weapons stockpile after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
